KOCHI: The City Corporation on Tuesday presented a rough draft of development projects worth Rs 150 crore for discussions to be carried out during the 2016 - 2017 fiscal. During the annual development seminar organised by the civic body, the civic administration put up for discussion how to utilise the Plan Fund allocation of Rs 106 crore for the next fiscal.
The civic body will also get a spillover fund of Rs 50 crore. The other funding sources include Central and State agencies, own fund, beneficiary allocation and bank loan. During the seminar inaugurated by Prof. K.V Thomas MP, project proposals in 17 sectors have been drafted after detailed discussions with stakeholders and subject experts.
The proposals will be submitted in the council for further discussion and the final development draft will be approved. While addressing the gathering, Prof. Thomas urged the civic authorities to focus on infrastructure development, poverty eradication, waste management and healthcare sector which, he said, should be the development motto of the city.
"Construction of big high-rises is not the development yardstick of the city alone. Development of basic facilities and infrastructure is equally important," he said. Meanwhile, Mayor Soumini Jain said that a project to make the city free of open defecation was in the pipeline and would be implemented this year.
MLAs P.T Thomas, K.J Maxi, M. Swaraj and Hibi Eden also participated. Deputy mayor T.J Vinod, standing committee chairpersons Adv. V.K Minimol, Shainy Mathew, P.M Haris, KVP Krishnakumar, Dr. Poornima Narayan and Corporation officials were also present.
